Bob and I are enjoying our Easter morning tradition. Reading the account of Jesus Christ’s resurrection from death from the Gospel of John. “I have seen the Lord!” can be our response, too. Check it out….
On Sunday morning while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran to Simon Peter and to Jesus’ favorite disciple and said, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him.”
Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. They ran side by side, until the other disciple ran faster than Peter and got there first. He bent over and saw the strips of linen cloth lying inside the tomb, but he did not go in.
When Simon Peter got there, he went into the tomb and saw the strips of cloth. He also saw the piece of cloth that had been used to cover Jesus’ face. It was rolled up and in a place by itself. The disciple who got there first then went into the tomb, and when he saw it, he believed. At that time Peter and the other disciple did not know that the Scriptures said Jesus would rise to life. So, the two of them went back to the other disciples.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene stood crying outside the tomb. She was still weeping when she stooped down and saw two angels inside. They were dressed in white and were sitting where Jesus’ body had been. One was at the head and the other was at the foot. The angels asked Mary, “Why are you crying?”
She answered, “They have taken away my Lord’s body! I don’t know where they have put him.”
As soon as Mary said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not know who he was. Jesus asked her, “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener and said, “Sir, if you have taken his body away, please tell me, so I can go and get him.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him, “Rabboni.” The Aramaic word “Rabboni” means “Teacher.”
Jesus told her, “Don’t hold on to me! I have not yet gone to the Father. But tell my disciples that I am going to the one who is my Father and my God, as well as your Father and your God.” Mary Magdalene then went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord. She also told them what he had said to her. (John 20:1-18, CEV)
Mary Magdalene
Although the disciples Peter and John play a role in this story about Christ’s resurrection, the main character is Mary Magdalene. This is significant and symbolic. Mary experienced one of the most profound and deep changes of life due to the ministry of Jesus.
Mary, as a troubled and immoral woman, knew about being spiritually enslaved to the machinations of seven demons. Jesus thoroughly delivered her from her personal hell. Mary expressed eternal gratitude to him for changing her life. She followed Jesus and supported him in whatever ways she could.
Mary came to the foot of Christ’s cross. The other (male) disciples kept their distance out of fear. Yet, Mary boldly stood with the other women for all to see – completely devoted to Jesus. She never turned her back on Jesus. Mary showed up at the grave on the Sunday morning of Christ’s resurrection. The other followers could not be found. Mary, however, came to the grave, still with a heart given to Jesus and grieving over his death.
Because Mary had a second chance at life, she was deeply thankful. For her, everything belonged to Jesus. Mary Magdalene was forgiven much, and so she loved much. Here she is, after her Lord’s crucifixion, death, and burial, at the grave of Jesus. Mary came to the tomb on Easter Sunday still living in a Good Friday world – grieving, sad, and discouraged. She soon discovered, however, that Christ is risen!
Surprised by Joy
Amid your days of disappointment, loss, or sadness, how are you surprised by joy and the presence of the risen Christ? How is your grief been turned to gratitude? Are you seeing the risen Lord?
One day, 34 years ago, I was down sick with the flu and in bed. I barely remember my wife coming into the bedroom after a doctor’s appointment upset and crying. She tried to rouse me with a mix of good and bad news. My wife went to the doctor thinking she probably had picked up my flu. Instead, the doctor gave her the news: she is pregnant with our first child. But there was more….
After the examination, the doctor believed our newly discovered little baby might be in the wrong place – that she was not where she should be. The little bundle might very well be in the fallopian tube and not the womb. So, here I am – barely able to move, getting out of bed – driving my wife to the hospital for an ultrasound.
I felt such a range of emotions within me that all I could do was weep, feeling, much like Mary Magdalene, that my Lord has been taken away from me. It just seemed like I didn’t know where Jesus was at that moment. It all felt so insanely surreal.
I will never forget the words and even the tone of voice of the ultrasound technician as we anxiously stared at a screen we didn’t understand. The technician said, “She is right where she is supposed to be!” The tears turned to joy. And the words were prophetic. No way could the technician know at six weeks in the womb that we were having a little girl. Yet she referred to the peanut within my wife as “she.” And we immediately knew what her name would be: “Sarah,” which is the Hebrew name for “Princess.” God graced us with a precious gift of royalty, coming from the grace of King Jesus.
You Are Where You’re Supposed To Be
I want us to know on this great Day of Resurrection, that we are right where we are supposed to be. It might seem out of place, spending so much time at home because of a pandemic. It may feel weird not working in ways we’re used to, or even working at all. Perhaps we wonder where God is or how the divine fits into this topsy-turvy world of disease and economic uncertainty.
The truth of matter is this: You are right where you are supposed to be. God has you precisely where he wants you. This morning, right now, you are a witness to the resurrection of Jesus. Along with Mary Magdalene there is the astonished declaration, “I have seen Jesus!”
Let Mary Magdalene’s experience be of encouragement to you. Mary experienced new life. She was transformed by the Lord. Yet, on Easter Sunday she did not immediately get what the heck was going on. Jesus rising from death was not anywhere on her radar. The empty tomb and the angels did not immediately lead her to faith – not until she saw Jesus, and even then, she did not recognize him.
He Calls You by Name
Only when Jesus called her name did Mary recognize him and respond, believing it was her Lord. Please know that Jesus is still calling out names, your name, too. Jesus said to his disciples that the sheep listen to the shepherd’s voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out (John 10:3-4). One little word can change our lives forever: our name.
Easter opens a whole new world for us, as it did for Mary – a future of announcing good news and proclaiming resurrection. There is a simple reason why the grave clothes are left in the tomb just lying there – they aren’t needed anymore! We no longer need the grave clothes of discouragement, defeat, and despair. There is no longer a need to weep and wonder because Christ is risen! Jesus is calling your name. Can you hear his voice?
Is It True?
The great twentieth-century Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, said what brings people to worship God – not just on Easter, but any day – is an unspoken question clinging to our minds and hearts: Is it true? Is it true that God lives? That Jesus is alive? Could it be true that I can live a new life in Christ? Is it true I can rebuild my life? Is any of it true? Mary Magdalene approached the tomb and found that, indeed, it was all true.
All over the world, on Easter Sunday, followers of Jesus testify it is all real. Christ is risen, and there is new life in Jesus our Lord. Right now, believers across the globe worship the risen Lord and declare along with us, “I have seen the Lord!”
God is still in the business of changing lives. British author A. N. Wilson used to be known for his scathing attacks on Christianity and proclaimed the death of God. But he celebrated Easter in 2009 at a church with a group of other church members, proclaiming that that the story of the Jesus of the Gospels is the only story that makes sense out of life and its challenges.
“My own return to faith has surprised none more than myself…. My belief has come about in large measure because of the lives and examples of people I have known—not the famous, not saints, but friends and relations who have lived, and faced death, in light of the resurrection story, and in the quiet acceptance that they have a future after they die.” A.N. Wilson
The Power of New Life
The moment Jesus calls a person’s name, the power of the resurrection is enabled—the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. See what you consider as immovable slabs of stone in your life—maybe it’s bitterness, insecurity, fear, self-doubt or cynicism. Those immense rocks can be rolled away. To know Jesus is to know the power of the resurrection. We don’t need to merely hear testimonies of changed lives like Mary Magdalene’s. We can experience new life ourselves through faith in Jesus.
There is one word, one name, which has forever changed the world: “Jesus.” And Jesus wants to change the world by uttering one simple word, one name: your name, so that you can exclaim with great joy, “I have seen the Lord!”
